Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1887-05-05
IN AFRICA'S DEPTHS.
BRIEF SKETCH OF A REMARKABLE
COLONY OF BOERS.

Seven Hundred Men, Women and Chill.
drcn, Who Crossed tho Kalahari
Desert to Find New Homes In u Tropi-
cal wilderness.
When Great Britain annexed tho Trans.
vaal in 1877 many of the sturdy Bocr farmers
declared that they would never consent to
British rule. Their fathers, they said, had
left their old homes in Cape Colony to escape
British domination, aud now they i'll turn
were ready to abandon their farms and bury
themselves III some region far northwnrd,
even among savage tribes, il they might thus
maintain their Independence. So it happened
that sono time before their brethren set up
tho South African republic ami went to war
for their independence 700 Beers, men, wo-
men and children, yoked their oxen to big
wagons, that wero piled high with Nil their
movable property, and set out across the
Kalal,ari desert to find now homes i'll the
depths of Africa.
We have already told something of their
terrible sufferings in tho parchcd kalahari
region and of their toilsoine two years pill
grimage. during which many of them per-
ished, before they reached the verdant and
salubrious plateau where they at last planted
their future homes They had Travelled over
1000 miles to gain Humpata, the site of their
now settlement, which is almost directly west
of the Portuguese town Of Mossamades and
about $50 miles from the Atlantic ocean.
The German explorer Denwitz has recently
visited them, and has brought back some i'll
terestng news of this remarkable colony.
A GLIMPSE OF HOME LIFE.
There they are, blue eyed men and omen
Of European ancestry, In the midst Of wild
tribes who are not always friendly. a while
ago Chief Jau attacked the village, but the
Beers had plenty Of powder and ball and
taught his tribe LESSOR they will not soon
forget. They havo reared their houses, built
of wood and clay and covered with thatch
upon rolling plain, through which runs n
river. There are usually two rooms in he
little cottages Their furniture is very prinl-
tive They cannot easily renew many OF tho
household articles they brought from the
Transvaal. and so they pack them away and
bring them out only on festive occasions.
The largest building in the place is tho little
church, where the head of the colony con-
duets divine services on Sundays. The col
onists are Protestants. About the only book
they have is the Bible, and the children are
taught to read from its pnges
The Beers till 10 more ground than is
necessary TO provide them with grain and
vegetables; but the country is full Of game,
and the men and boys spend n great deal OF
their time hunting They kill many ele-
plants and hippopotami. When they first
went tO Humpata they could not descend
from the mountainous border of the plateau
to the coast region except along narrow
footpnth. They used to drive their oxen
down, carry their wagons in pieces down tho
declvity, and then put them together and
haul their ivory and hides to the coast.
With the help of the Portuguese they have
built n good wagoil road through the ino,iti
tains. Now every month they send little
caravan to Mossame,lcs to sell the products
of the chase, and carry back T." their home in
the great wideriess such wares of Europe as
they require.
The young girls arc trpined Ivy their
mothers in all household cares. and many Ut
them since reaching their new homes have
been welded to young men III thc colony.
rio meI1 :,:a :.;c c .ti,test pride in their guns
and cattle Their herd suffered terribly on
the long march from tho Transvaal but from
the survivors they have redred plentiful
supply of stock.
INDEPENDENCE NOT COMPLETE.
Here these white people are living vblun.
tarily exled from all signs bf civilization ex-
ccpt such as they have produced III their lit
tlc village, and yet they think their solitude
and Independence are not SO complete as they
ought to be- The Thought troubles them that
Portugal claims sovereignty over their terri
tory. Portugal has not attempted In dny
way to interfere in their affairs They have
preserved complete liberty. They form a
little republic, and the +occ of the majority
rules. Still to many of them, the idea is IN
s,,p,prtable that they live in territory that is
claimed BY any Enropean power So they
are seriously thinking of pulling tip stakes
and getting outside even of tho nominal juiris-
dittion of the Portuguese.
Il number of the met havs I,een sent by the
colony to explore that part Of the Bihe ro,in-
try northeast of Huiiipata ~hiclt is not i'll
cludcd in Portuguese territory. 1t is this
plateau ttut Cameron said s5nie years ago
was well adapted for Eurorean occupancy.
IF the delegation reports that the country ~
fitted for the establishment of a colony there
il every probability that the Botrs will take
up their marcl, again hi the land they hope
to enter they will be about twice as far from
the sea as they now are, and the nearest port
will bo Benguela, in Angola.
Theses 700 Beers cut d unique figure in Afri-
can colonization. They have shown that it is
possible for large party OF whites to mako
their why into the depths of Africa; several
hundred miles within tho tropics, and to live
there in comparative comfort. 1t is likely
that they are the only white people who are
competent to achieve success in such al uii-
dcrtaking. York Sun: